Thanks for posting that GregA... the E92 doesn't really seem that long when you look at those two comparison pics. Man I bet it will clean up so nicely after you take away all that tape and expose the rear lights!!

Edit:
Can someone please photoshop the black tape away from the middle of the car and also away from the rear pillar? I bet this will make it look dramatically different. I'd do it myself but no photoshop here at work

i really wish the rear overhang is a tad bit shorter or the tail to be a little bit thicker....

perhapse, with an m sports package or something that makes the rear bumper thicker (lower) and a rear spoiler (that effectively raises the trunk line), the car would look better... the e46 coupe also has a slightly dropping trunk line... the key word being "slightly".... it's a lot more pronounced for the e92... perhapse it'll warm up to me when i see the real thing... but that trunk line is bothering me so much... what would work, i think, is the trunk design of the e46 M3 CSL. it's sloping upwards in the middle, so it would complement the e92's dropping trunkline nicely, me thinks...

also, the e92 needs bigger wheels... much bigger... the general look of the car, with its high belt line, makes the sides look really thick.. you need huge wheels to off-set that... i would look for ways to squeeze 20" wheels on a e92 to make it look better...

man, this makes me realize just how good the e46 design was... you can't change anything in the e46 without unbalancing something... it was just perfect the way it was... with the e92, there are so much room for improvement...

something i noticed with all new bmws... there is a step on the hood... look at where the a piler meets the front fender... on the older cars, like that e46, the level of the hood is the same as the level of the fender. with the newer cars, the E90+ and E60 etc, there is a step, making the entire hood higher, causing the entire profile of the car look thicker... the e46 looks like a knife cutting through the air because the hood line is so low...

i think this is because of the new law in europe where there has to be a lot of room between the engin and the hood. this is part of a new law that's deisgned to make cars easier on pedestrians... more room between hood and the hard engin block means there is more room for the hood to absorb the impact for the pedestrian... but, that's making all new european cars look fat...

so, here's an idea.... why not move the transmission to the back of the car? that way, BMW can push the engin further back, thus causing te engin to be "lower" which would allow them a lower hood line? it would also improve the weight distribition to boot....

The two pics are decent for comparisons, but I think there are a couple factors that prevent a good, close comparison:

1. the perspective is off just enough between the two (the blue pics are taken from a viewpoint slightly higher and foward than the silver pics, note the visible background between the left and right b-pillars in the blue pics and the additional "thickness" of the right door panel visible in the blue pic) to impact how the lines appear to the eye.

2. with the taillights masked off on the blue pics the trunk will look significantly different. Imagine the E46 coupe pic with the lights masked off

2a. Same thing with the headlights

3. I'm pretty sure the silver pics are using 18" wheels, and the blue pics are using 17" wheels. It's pretty universally accepted that the new era BMW's look way better as the wheels get bigger.

4. The color and lighting are certainly different enough to affect how the body creases and cutlines look.

With the official announcement of the twin-turbo motor, I would think that the official E92 announcement will be along in very short order.

so, here's an idea.... why not move the transmission to the back of the car? that way, BMW can push the engin further back, thus causing te engin to be "lower" which would allow them a lower hood line? it would also improve the weight distribition to boot....